In light of the Flames vying for a new arena, would it make sense to have a second professional team playing in the same building?

Could Calgary support an NBA franchise economically?
Would Calgarians be receptive?
Can we fill seats? (Toronto is playing to 90% capacity right now.)

__________________“The fact is that censorship always defeats it's own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steel Commager (1902-1998)

No. If it didn't work in Vancouver, how in the heck would it work here? We are a little too red-necky to support an NBA franchise, plus what wanna-be-gangster NBA player would ever want to play here? We would be the Oilers of the NBA as far as getting free agents.

I think the failure of the Vancouver Grizzlies will set back NBA expansion into Canada near permanently. I'd go to some basketball games if we had the NBA here in the city, but I think the Vancouver experiment - however flawed it may have been - means we'll be waiting a while.

I dont think Calgary would fill the building more then 50% on any given night. The metro population here is what? 1.5M? Of whom how many actually watch basketball enough to pay to go see 40+ home games? basketball just isnt a large enough sport in Canada, Vancouver couldn't do it, Toronto struggles to fill seats. You will never see another NBA franchise in Canada.

__________________“The fact is that censorship always defeats it's own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steel Commager (1902-1998)

I would love to see it happen but NBA ticket prices are through the roof. I watch basketball but would not pay top dollar to watch what would be a basement team. The Roughnecks would probably draw bigger crowds and offer more entertainment value then the current state of the NBA.

I wonder why NBA in Vancouver failed and is doing reasonably well in Toronto.

__________________“The fact is that censorship always defeats it's own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steel Commager (1902-1998)

I wonder why NBA in Vancouver failed and is doing reasonably well in Toronto.

Population, market share, and demographics. I would say at least 50% of the ethnic demographic in in Vancouver could care less about Basketball. The only way Vancouver would ever be able to make it work again is if Yao Ming played for them. Then it would make sense. But unfortunately 7 foot giant Chinese basketball players that don't have some sort of life threatening pituitary disorder don't come along every day.

I think the biggest reason basketball failed in Vancouver was the product sucked. Team had fools for management, and drafting 'Big Country' was pretty typical of the basketball knowledge for that team.

I went to a few Grizzly games, and they were actually a lot of fun, but they never had any real competitive draw.